Sloatsburg — It appears as a beacon of light and activity, tucked into the neglected, dull-brown awning topped strip mall that passes for Sloatsburg’s downtown business district. Proprietors Lisa and Alex Zhao have quietly gone about converting blight into a place where beauty is the business of the day. Like bees to summer flowers, customers are drawn to the cozy bustle of the Zhaos’ Golden Nails & Spa II, whether for a quick touchup or complete makeover or to pass on the rites of a manicure and pedicure from mother to daughter.
Immigrants from northeast China, the Zhaos have been stateside for more than 12 years and have run their Sloatsburg Golden Nails & Spa the last three years. A second store in Nanuet has been in business for the last five years and is managed by their daughter, Teresa, who followed her parents into the beauty business. A year or so after the Zhaos took over ownership of the Sloatsburg store, their next door neighbor, Haas Pharmacy, moved across the street. The vacant storefront gave Alex Zhao an idea — expand the spa business by opening a space devoted to reflexology. Almost overnight, the Zhaos and crew renovated both places, refurbishing the nail salon and building an entirely new, adjacent, reflexology spa, doubling the size of Golden Nails II in the process.
“It was my dad’s idea,” said Teresa, on her father’s gamble. She explained that she thought the idea was crazy. “It was a lot of work, setting up the new store. Everything’s new. All the chairs are imported from China just for reflexology. But it’s not like nails — you can only do one price.” Just as suddenly, the build out was finished and the spa reopened for business. But the reflexology business wasn’t a hit in the hinterlands yet. Not even close. The reflexology spa drew few customers for almost a year.
The Zhaos drive in together every morning from Flushing, Queens, going first to the Nanuet store and then coming to Sloatsburg. And it was back in Queens that Alex Zhao became convinced that Rockland was ready for reflexology. The many nail and spa salons in and around Flushing and on the drive across the Hudson were offering reflexology services. While the Nanuet store only has two dedicated reflexology chairs, Zhao saw a market opportunity and built out the Sloatsburg space with five. After a nervous lag in business, the reflexology spa experienced an uptick this past fall that crescendoed with a client holiday nail party in December, where all five reflexology chairs were filled much of the evening. Business has been steady since.
Teresa Zhao said the spa now books nearly 30 appointments a month. She said Golden Nails & Spa gift cards were popular this holiday because they can be used for all services. Nothing says love, gents, like new nails.
Although reflexology is not considered a science, it is a popular and growing procedure, both for salons and customers. In New York State there are certification requirements but the practice still falls under long-standing services customarily given in barber shops and beauty parlors.
The idea is to treat the body by manipulating reflex areas of the feet and hands that correspond to different parts of the body. A sort of zone therapy that differs from massage, which involves muscle manipulation applied to much larger areas of the body. Whether reflexology works as Dr. William H. Fitzgerald, an ear, nose and throat doctor who introduced the concept back in 1915, conceived, or whether people just find it relaxing, the procedure is now a sought after low-cost alternative therapy for the over-stressed. What’s the harm in a foot rub that is by near universal response a relaxing bit of spa TLC.
Teresa Zhao attributes her parents’ success to her mom’s experience back in China, where she ran a small market. “She opened it up herself,” Zhao said. “She knows business. She knows how to deal with people and customers.” The Zhaos’ gamble on Sloatsburg appears to be paying off as they plan to order two more chairs from China. Teresa also plans to follow in her mother Lisa’s footsteps and apply for U.S. citizenship. Her mother just started the process and Teresa expects to begin in March.
“You have to wait four years and nine months after your Green Card issue date,” she said, explaining that it’s a long process with a very large waiting list. But the Zhaos are already are familiar with the rewards of the waiting game — when you’re at just the right place at the right time.
